Coldwater’s Jill Vonder Haar ran away with the girls individual
title at the Mercer County cross country invitational, but it
was the Celina girls that took home the team title.
Celina won with a team total 30 points, 11 better than second
place Coldwater. Marion Local was third with 51 points, followed
by Fort Recovery’s 126, and Parkway’s 137.
Vonder Haar won easily with a time of 21:33, which was 33 seconds
better then her next closest competitor. “I wish my
time was a little bit better, but I think it was pretty good,”
Vonder Haar said. “I’m just happy that my team worked
together and they worked hard, and I’m just really proud
of them all.”
Vonder Haar, like many of the athletes who finished the race,
then went back to the course to cheer on competitors from her
squad as well as other schools teams. “I like the cheering,
and I think they deserve it just as much as I do,” Vonder
Haar said. “It usually helps me and I just figured it could
help them.”
Celina took the team title, and was paced by a couple very fast
times from Brittany Wenning who finished second, and Amanda Smith’s
third. “I’m happy, it’s kind of hot, but
I’m happy with it,” Wenning said. Wenning’s
time was a 22:06, and the Celina representative said a large hill
they were forced to run over twice didn’t make the humid
race much easier. “That’s killer,” she said
with a laugh, “But I’m hoping to break 20 (minutes)
this year, and I got a 22 something so hopefully I can get that
down somewhat.”
Celina coach Lore Long said she was pleased with the way her girls
ran in their first meet. “They stayed in a pack better
than I expected, so that’s a good thing and means we have
a lot to build on,” Long said. “Our first five runners
were all within like 50 seconds of each other, which was really
good.”
Long pointed out Smith’s race as one of the better on the
team. “She’s always way behind at the beginning
and then way in the front at the end, she’s our smartest
runner,” Long said. “I always tell our girls if they’re
going to pace off somebody then they need to pace of off her.”
Also helping the Bulldogs cause was Heather Waterman and Heather
Petrie who finished seventh and eight respectively while Kara
Osterfeld finished 10th.
Rounding out the top five were Coldwater’s Tasha Stucke
in fourth and Marion Locals Deanna Kremer in sixth. The Cavaliers
Renee Hemmelgran finished ninth. “I’m very impressed
with our girls, we have some positive thoughts about the season
and high expectations as far as the MAC and where we want to be,
and we’re starting right where we want,” said Coldwater
coach Dan Pohlman. “We’re hoping top three and maybe
we can pull an upset, they’ve had a great start this year
they’re doing awesome so we’re excited.”
The 11-20 finishers were led by Marion Local’s Holly Fortkamp
and Stacy Evers. They were followed by Coldwater’s Lisa
Hemmelgarn and Lexi Klenke. Celina’s Jen Blacketer and Katelin
Smith were next, with the Flyers’ Terri Feltz and Trina
Bruns in the 17 and 18 spots. Celina’s Kate Vermeersch and
Marion Local’s Kelly Rosenbeck rounded out the top 20.